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About Pepperdigital

Learn about the PepperDigital team

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Jacqueline Kolek
1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement? Developing and launching a microsite for Marsh, riskinsights.com. We were able to develop a program that captured and highlighted their incredible depth of expertise while creating a valuable tool and resource for media.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications? There is a cool new thing to learn every day and trends are always changing.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise? It may be kind of old, but I loved OfficeMax's Elf Yourself. Great example of creating something that users could personalize to drive a truly viral program.

Steve Cody1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement? Having my Repman blog twice nominated for "best digital marketing initiative/best blog" of the year (Holmes and PR News). 2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications? Its immediacy. One's image and reputation can be made or destroyed in a nanosecond. Love IMing and text messaging with my kids as well.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise? Burger King's subservient chicken was one of the best, early web 2.0 examples of viral marketing and helped put Crispin, Porter, Bogusky on the map.

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby? Googling former employers, clients, high school and college classmates (and extended members of the Moed and Birkhahn families).

Sam Ford
1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement? Honestly, while this is fairly broad, I think the greatest achievement I had a part in was in launching and managing the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium as a place for academics, media industries employees, marketers, fans, and a variety of other parties to come together and discuss the "convergence culture" we live in today, through venues like the Consortium's blog and our annual Futures of Entertainment event.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications?I think the digital world we live in today provided a diverse range of new venues through which citizens have a chance to respond to, complain to, or criticize companies. That should be greatly celebrated, because it means it's now more imperative than ever that companies communicate honestly with their audiences in transparent and efficient ways, and that the conversation now flows in both directions.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise? The best digital solutions are the ones that are carefully and strategically integrated into that particular company's approach. To go with a few very different examples, seethe Netflix Prize contestwhere the company crowdsourced finding a more accurate recommendation system, with ongoing prizes for teams competing in the process; the way that World Wrestling Entertainment uses atransmedia approach throughtheir Web siteas part of the fictional narrative world their television shows create; and developments among fan communities (such as the Organization for Transformative Works, which archives "the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms") and among scholars (such as theIn Media Resproject that redefines how media studies scholars do their work in a digital age).

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby? That's a tough one. I spend most of my time online in e-mail, and I believe in preserving the lost art of letter-writing as much as possible, so I'm not a fan of the one-liner e-mail unless it's purely pragmatic. I spend a lot of time reading and writing blogs. But I'll have to admit that I also spend a whole lot of time in soap opera discussion boards and fan sites.

Lauren Begley
1. What’s your greatest digital/2.0 achievement?
Live Tweeting the 2008 presidential election. There was a true sense of community in the digital space that day from users all across the country and it was awesome to be a part of it.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications?
The instantaneous communication. I find it very exciting that people from all over the world are able to share, collaborate and inform one another in real time.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise?
I loved Stride Gum’s sponsorship of the YouTube Star ‘Dancing Matt.’ It was a great example of how a brand found an existing digital phenomenon that aligned perfectly with the company’s audience and then built an organic relationship, bringing both audiences together in a meaningful way.

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby?
I love celebrity gossip, and social media. Fortunately, I’ve been able to combine the two into my blog, PopCulture2point0. I’m able to write about things that interest me and share my opinions and insight with others all around the world. Blogging is certainly one of my favorite hobbies, digital or otherwise.

Michael Blankenship
1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement?
I consider my greatest digital achievement to be combining my PR experience with web programming to become a hybrid PR professional in the 2.0 generation. Knowing the ins and outs of web programming provides an added element to campaign strategizing.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications?
My favorite aspect of digital marketing and communications is real-time audience engagement. Dialogue and feedback is instantaneous, from web analytics to social media conversations. The instant feedback is critical to a plan’s success or failure.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise?
There are so many examples today of company’s getting right (though there are still so many getting it wrong). I consider the early adapters—those willing to take a gamble in the early days of digital communications—to be role models and effective users of digital tools. The partnership between Apple and Nike is one of my favorites, combining the popularity of iTunes and community of Nike runners to create an online forum for tracking workouts and networking with other athletes.

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby?
I am a college football and triathlon junkie. The introduction of webcasting sports via the Internet was the equivalent of winning the Powerball. During the football season, I have a different game playing on each TV in the house and a different live stream playing on each of my computers. When football season is over, I follow triathlons all around the world via webcasts.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications?
The transparency it provides. Governments, businesses and individuals have less space to hide in a digital world.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise?
The Bring Back Wispa campaign. Cadburys did a great job in turning this grassroots social media campaign into an online marketing juggernaut.

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby?
Digital media enables all of us to expand our horizons. I like to read foreign newspapers and blogs to see what is important to people in other parts of the world.

Sahana Jayaraman
1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement?
I’d say my greatest achievement is having the foresight to see the potential for digital efforts early in my career. I’m thankful that in addition to honing traditional PR skills, I took the personal interest and devoted the extra time required to obtain a solid understanding of online marketing. This allows me to easily switch hats between PR and Internet marketing effectively. Having skills in web content development, search engine optimization, email marketing and web analytics is helpful in developing robust digital communication strategies for clients.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications?
The fact that digital marketing allows me to use the creative and analytical side of my brain. I also appreciate that the Internet by nature is immediate, nimble and quantifiable.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise?
There are many solid campaigns out there today, however Burger King’s Subservient Chicken comes to my mind immediately, because it’s one of the earlier digital campaigns that first caught my attention. A brilliant campaign from both a creative and technological perspective, that quickly spread across the Internet!

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby?
The inner geek in me loves keeping up with new digital trends/products and am often among the first wave of people (early adopters) to play with new social and web tools (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, iPhone apps) before they go mainstream. When time permits, I also enjoy writing about my digital observances through my personal blog. Also, a guilty pleasure is catching up on Bollywood movie trailers using YouTube.

Rob Longert1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement? Creating my first ever AOL screen name back in ‘93 was the beginning of the end for me. I’ve been hooked to the net ever since.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications? Digital communications mimic traditional communications in many ways, and I enjoy helping to build the bridge to link the two together, and I crave the learning process that goes into it.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise? I love the way that digital photography websites have changed the way we print and share photos. Shutterfly was an early adopter, and they continue to provide a place for us to store, buy, and alter our digital photos.

Brooke Winebrenner
1. What’s your greatest digital/ 2.0 achievement?
I have two accomplishments I feel very proud of. The first is traveling abroad to Spain to complete a digital marketing plan and online projects for a client while working at Imagewest, Western Kentucky University’s student-run agency, during my undergraduate studies. The second would be beginning my career at Peppercom as Social Media Coordinator.

2. What’s your favorite aspect of digital marketing/communications?
I love the instant gratification that digital can provide and the fact that we are constantly finding new ways to communicate through digital means. This industry trend is evolving day-by-day, and that’s what really gets me excited.

3. What’s an example of how a digital tool was used effectively by a business or enterprise?
One digital tool that I have found useful, and personally think is genius, is the Domino’s online pizza tracker tool. First introduced in 2008, the pizza tracker was originally promoted to ensure that football fans would receive their pizza just in time for the kick-off of the Super Bowl. Today, this tool still allows you to place your food order online and, at the press of a button, track who is making your pizza and the status from start to delivery. Just one example of a digital tool used to satisfy its customers.

4. What’s your favorite digital hobby?
Connecting with people through the use of social media is definitely my idea of fun (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) on both a personal and professional level. While professionally it is my job to listen, I actually find this a fun task, as I get to listen to what consumers are saying and learn about various industries . I gain market insight, but at the same time, I find new blogs and websites that I enjoy and return to on my own time.